Proving That Cryptic Crossword Clue Answers Are Correct

Abstract

Cryptic crossword clues are challenging cognitive tasks, for which new test sets are released on a daily basis by multiple international newspapers. Each cryptic clue contains both the definition of the answer to be placed in the crossword grid (in common with regular crosswords), and 'wordplay' that _proves_ that the answer is correct (i.e. a human solver can be confident that an answer is correct without needing crossing words to confirm it). Using an existing cryptic wordplay proving framework (operating on Python proofs created by an LLM), we show that it is possible to distinguish between correct answers and almost-correct ones based upon whether the wordplay 'works'.